The September 14 meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board was a long day’s journey into night with a number of agenda items being handled. None, however, will be more visible than the planned reconstruction of Main, Water, and Beacon Streets, as well as Old Marion Road.

            Coming before the board were Eversource planners Ryan Earle and Tom Costa to discuss the utility’s proposal of gas line replacements from Acushnet Road to Fairhaven Road, then jumping across Route 6 to continue on down the scenic village roadway along the waterfront, ending at the intersection of Old Marion Road and Route 6.

            Costa said the plan would take approximately four years to complete with at least three phases timed to take place during the off-season in an effort to minimize disruption to the boating community.

“We want to get in front of your larger road project,” he said, referring to the all-inclusive roadway improvement project the town has been planning for a number of years and which is currently awaiting 2025 Transportation Infrastructure Project funding.

            Discussions centered around the need for tight coordination with VHB, the town’s consulting engineers for the roadway project. Costa noted that service upgrades to individual customers would also take place, prompting Highway Surveyor Garrett Bauer to say sidewalks would need to be replaced. Select Board Member Jodi Bauer also said care of existing trees and associated root systems is important. Select Board Chairman Jordan Collyer said VHB has already surveyed and inventoried town trees along the route and directed Costa to contact them for the details.

            There was further discussion on timing with Costa saying Eversource’s schedule is flexible, and that work could begin as soon as this fall if weather conditions are favorable, which could mean pushing the start date out to April 2022.

            Housing issues were the topic of a request from resident Barbara White of 99 County Road, who came before the board requesting a permit to use two recreational campers as living accommodations for her family of three adults and two children. She explained that an existing single-family home on the property is in severe disrepair and that for economic reasons, the family needs to stay on the site while the home is under construction.

            Concerns voiced by Director of Inspectional Services Andy Bobola, Collyer, Bauer, and Select Board member Tyler Macallister centered around safety issues. Current bylaws allow for the permitting of temporary mobile housing units placed on-site if the residence has been destroyed by fire or natural disasters. The issue of long-term heating elements in a camper, along with cooking, presented a real hazard to the life safety of the family, they said.

            “I understand your situation, but I need assurances we aren’t taking on something that’s a liability. I want to help from a humanitarian viewpoint, but…,” said Collyer, pointing to the liability the town would be accepting if the campers were permitted more than two weeks.

            White was told, if she could rent a mobile home designed for long-term residential use while the home is being repaired, that would be acceptable. She received a two-week permit and was asked to return to the next Select Board meeting to see where things stand at that time. In the meantime, Town Counsel would be contacted, Collyer said, to help clarify the town’s position.

            Conservation Commission Chairman Mike King and member David Lawrence came before the board seeking ratification of a letter of understanding with Brandon Faneuf of Ecosystem Solutions, Inc. for his work as a 53G conservation consulting agent. King said that for certain projects needing expert review, the applicants would pay for Faneuf’s work, meaning the town would bear no cost.

            Macallister said, “I like the concept.” He said applicants would benefit from Faneuf’s services and that delays created by not having an agent on staff “cost the applicants time and money.”

            The board elected to move forward with the plan and review after it after 90 days. Collyer added that a survey could be sent out asking residents how the process worked for them.

            Harbormaster Jamie McIntosh and Marine Advisory Board Chairman Carlos DeSousa met with the board to discuss and receive approval for waterway fee increases. McIntosh said that to keep the department solvent, it is time to increase fees where possible, namely moorings, stickers, and dinghy

spaces.

            DeSousa said that, with the increase, the enterprise fund could see as much as $350,000 annually. Collyer said it is important to keep the enterprise fund from “going in the red.” A public hearing will be held by the board on this matter at a date to be determined.

            Community Gardens organizers Bill O’Keefe and Barbara Vaninwegen came before the board requesting a possible community garden on the grounds of the town-owned former Holy Ghost property off Park Street. Collyer countered that maybe a better location would be the former Gomes property now owned by the town and located adjacent to the Police Station on Hubbard’s Way.

            The board agreed it is a viable idea, but issues of liability were raised. Collyer asked that the group should research the type of insurance needed and that the town administrator would check in with town counsel to ascertain what the town should require of the gardening group. Collyer also said that, given it was public property, other groups would have to be given the opportunity to use the site through a Request for Proposal process.

            The Mattapoisett Land Trust, represented by member Gary Johnson, brought a request to the board for its signatures on a grant application in the amount of $45,000 for the purpose of acquiring a parcel of land along Mattapoisett Neck Road. He said the conservation restriction would be held by the town and the Buzzards Bay Coalition. The board agreed.

            Members of the Mattapoisett Historical Commission asked for and received permission to open a new site in Shipyard Park for memorial bricks. Work may begin before the winter season.

            The next meeting of the Mattapoisett Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, September 28, at 6:30 pm.

Mattapoisett Select Board

By Marilou Newell

            Multi-family developments are progressing in Marion, where the Select Board heard the case of Matt Zucker’s Route 6 Cottages development during its September 8 meeting.

            Zucker’s re-zoning request from Residence D (which he can build by-right) to Residence E, he asserts, will allow him to build the multi-family development that he believes the townspeople need and want. To prove his intentions, Zucker paid $50,000 to fund a Weston & Samson study and agreed to a deed restriction capping the number of units at 48.

            “It’s a huge investment for us in the town…. We want to work as a team on this,” said Zucker.

            The Select Board’s consensus is to put Zucker’s request onto the warrant for the October 19 Special Town Meeting, and its members will make that recommendation official when they vote to close the warrant.

            Zucker explained his intent is for an over-55 village with market amenities like walking trails. His project began its vetting process with the Marion Planning Board in the spring and remains in process. “We think we put together a … vastly sup plan. There are not many 30-acre sites left that are on the waterfront.”

            Based on the constructions of 12 units at a time, Zucker anticipates a three-year buildup.

            Residence E multi-family housing projects require the developer’s choice of 10-percent subsidized housing or the option to make a cash donation to the Marion Affordable Housing Trust.

            “We’ll comply with the bylaw … [We] haven’t made that final call yet,” said Zucker.

            Peter Turowski and Dave Davignon have redesigned the units, and Zucker cited Master Plan and housing choices that measure between 2,000 and 2,500 square feet in floor space. Zucker said the revised plan gives more variety to the units and would be situated so that residents can almost see between adjacent houses.

            “We’re trying to create a sense of community,” he said, acknowledging that establishing a connection to town sewer is at the forefront of infrastructural matters.

            In answer to Select Board Chairman Norm Hills’ observation that the dead-end roadway will require a turnaround for a fire engine, Zucker said the designers are “already looking at options.” Hills also noted his expectation that a lot of glass on the exterior of the units will drive up heating costs.

            Select Board member Randy Parker, in his first meeting back since a health-related absence, asked Zucker about the existing house near the powerline, and Zucker said it may have to come down.

            Referencing “great interest this summer with effects from climate change,” Planning Board member Eileen Marum encouraged Zucker to consider the ramifications of electric heating, cooking, or cooling as opposed to fossil fuel.

            Marum also asked about plans to ease traffic’s exit onto Route 6; Zucker said his group is studying the matter and would have full report within two weeks.

            As Town Administrator Jay McGrail explained, the Select Board decides if the re-zoning should be on the warrant for the Special Town Meeting. If so, there will be an opportunity for a Planning Board to hold a public hearing to address the zoning matter. That hearing would not vet the project itself, a process that Zucker would take up with the Planning Board by applying for a special permit.

            McGrail asked Zucker and his attorneys to attend the Special Town Meeting to answer any questions from the public. Masks will be required at Town Meeting; there will be no Zoom option.

            In his Town Administrator’s Report, McGrail told the Select Board that the first trucks had begun hauling away the remaining sludge from the wastewater treatment plant lagoon and would be at it for at least two weeks with three truckloads per day last week and six per day this week. Methuen Construction will then oversee final grading with the goal of mid to late October for the liner installation, a final step that must be finished before any winter weather.

            In other encouraging news, McGrail reported that the Seaport Economic Council was to announce on September 9 a $300,000 award to move forward the new marine center at Island Wharf. Marion representatives were to present the project before Lieutenant Governor Karyn Polito and Representative William Straus.

            The award puts the town in a position to apply for the next round of construction funding in six to eight months.

            The Select Board voted to accept the Town Administrator’s FY22 goals; McGrail will post them at marionma.gov.

            A Water/Sewer Commissioners meeting will be held on Thursday, September 30, at 4:00 pm. Representatives from Weston & Sampson will attend.

            McGrail reported working with Facilities Manager Shawn Cormier on ADA-accessible walkways and other potential grant-funded projects for Silvershell Beach. In the wake of Town Planner Gil Hilario’s departure, McGrail is now functioning as Marion’s grant writer. Dan Dowd, a resident who is blind, is working with Cormier and McGrail on planning.

            In filling Hilario’s vacancy with Doug Guey-Lee, Marion has created a new position. Rather than a planner/grant writer, Guey-Lee will be a planner/conservation agent. He also has experience with grant writing. McGrail noted that Marion had been one of, if not the last, of the municipalities in Massachusetts without a conservation agent. Guey-Lee starts on October 4.

            McGrail has discussed a per-diem consultant on grant writing similarly to the arrangement the Town of Rochester has.

            On Monday, September 20, annual hydrant flushing will begin. The town is seeking snowplow and sanding contractors. The deadline to apply is October 15.

            Tangi Thomas and Pamela Cook were appointed to the Fireworks Committee for one-year terms. Both have children and experience in fundraising. Cook is a fundraising professional. The committee now has three total members.

            Jenny Babcock, co-chair of the Plymouth County Suicide Prevention Coalition, appeared in accordance with the county’s request that all Plymouth County towns declare September 10 Suicide Prevention Day. “We just want to end the stigma of suicide and mental illness,” said Babcock, who noted that Marion’s will be the ninth proclamation this month. Any lost survivors of suicides were asked to light a candle to display it at 8:00 pm in their window to recognize September 10 as World Suicide Prevention Day.

            In accordance with the allowances per 2020 census figures, Town Clerk Lissa Magauran requested that the Select Board allow Marion to remain a single-precinct election town. According to the 2020 census, Marion’s population is 5,347. The threshold necessitating the creation of a second voting precinct is 6,200. Magauran estimates 1,000-1,500 for average voter turnout in Marion.

            The town constable was to post the October 19 Spring Town Meeting at five locations, including Taber Library, the Police Station, the Cushing Community Center, and the Town House.

            The DPW requested to declare a large quantity of failed water meters as surplus property so the town can sell them for their scrap-metal value. McGrail said the approval would allow the town to dispense of the meters without taking on the chore of disassembling them.

            Parker said the meters can be sold as No. 1 brass and that “a good purchaser will give us a dumpster to fill.”

            McGrail also reported that the town dispensed of several vehicles in the first week of September.

            In a 6:15 pm hearing, the board voted Ansel’s Cafe an entertainment license. According to proprietor Liz Carter, Ansel’s is a “very small, low-key kind of place.” The establishment recently acquired a liquor license and is now planning some live acoustic music to help bring in customers. There is some outdoor seating during the spring and summer seasons, and Ansel’s is considering a jazz brunch feature.

            In a bookkeeping measure, the Select Board gave its final approval of an alcohol license to Brew Fish restaurant.

            The board voted to accept a $100 donation from Janine Lake to the Marion Fire and EMS.

            A Water/Sewer commitment for $615.21 was approved.

            Waterman publicly thanked Harbormaster Isaac Perry and Associate Harbormaster Adam Murphy for their work in helping a boater escape danger.

            The next meeting of the Marion Select Board is scheduled for Tuesday, September 21, at 6:00 pm.

Marion Select Board

By Mick Colageo

            Barnstable County is keeping a database for new innovative/alternative (I/A) septic systems, namely those that include denitrification technology across Buzzards Bay as far as Westport, and Marion Board of Health member Dot Brown wants Marion in on that action.

            Though Marion is part of Plymouth County, Barnstable County, she said, is focused on Buzzards Bay with this effort and, as a county dominated by coastal municipalities, the effort to lower the levels of nitrogen in its many harbors is a priority.

            As Brown explained to fellow board members Ed Hoffer and John Howard during the BOH’s September 7 Zoom meeting, Barnstable County has offered to routinely look over newly installed I/A systems to ensure they meet the state’s standards and thereby become part of the database.

            “We would rarely have to be involved in that unless there was a real issue,” said Brown, noting that while Marion had monitored new I/A systems a couple of times per year at the outset, then less frequently, the arrangement proposed by Barnstable County would alleviate Marion of that legwork.

            The grant-funded program has money for 20 new Marion systems to be monitored, and only five were installed in 2021 since Marion adopted the regulation requiring denitrification technology in any new septic construction.

            According to Public Health Director/Nurse Lori Desmarais, Marion has 21 I/A systems, five of which were installed since the adoption of the regulation, making those five and the next 15 new I/A systems eligible for grant-funded monitoring by Barnstable County. The 16 owners who had already installed their I/A systems prior to Marion’s adoption of a denitrification regulation are required to monitor and report per state law.

            Brown collaborated with Desmarais and Administrative Assistant Maureen Murphy to pour through town paperwork and review each installation to furnish Barnstable County with necessary information.

            Marion Board of Health Chair Ed Hoffer asked if a formal agreement in writing is included in the proposed arrangement. Brown said she will request a written agreement.

            BOH member John Howard asked if Plymouth County has such a program, but Brown said she does not think so, given that much of the county is made up of inland towns. Howard also asked if the state specifies who receives the monitoring reports in the case of failure to follow up with the BOH on the part of the owner.

            “We have the teeth. We’re the ones who can close the property. Barnstable County can’t do that,” said Brown, who plans to follow up with George Heufelder of Barnstable County to iron out any wrinkles and satisfy the concerns of her fellow board members, including a written agreement. Then the BOH will vote on the matter.

            In her report to the board, Desmarais told members that COVID-19 cases are on the rise. Of the total 467 Marion has seen since the beginning of the pandemic, five are active; there were 13 cases in July, 29 in August, and five so far this first full week of September.

            Of the 29 positive tests in August, 13 were sequenced and 10 came back with the Delta variant; 14 of the 29 had been vaccinated. “So, the Delta variant also gets people who are vaccinated,” she said.

            Desmarais reported that the Pfizer COVID-19 booster shot is expected to be ready before Moderna’s, sometime around September 21. When available, Marion will offer the Moderna booster vaccine.

            The Old Rochester School District adopted the state’s mask mandate, which runs through October 1. ORR schools are not conducting pool testing this academic year but are conducting testing in the case of potential exposure, evidence of virus-related symptoms, or a positive test result.

            Tabor Academy students moved in over the weekend, and school-wide testing was held and will continue on a weekly basis through September when the issue will be reevaluated.

            Desmarais says a shipment of the flu vaccine is due next week, and she plans to hold clinics during the September 19 or September 26 week, hopefully in a drive-thru format. She said that 120 high-dose vaccines are coming at the end of next week with a sign-up list. The Color-brand scheduling platform will be used in Marion for vaccine distribution.

            There will be a Health Fair in October at the Cushing Community Center where blood pressure and blood sugar tests will be conducted, and a fall oral rabies vaccine will be distributed via aircraft from September 13 to October 8.

            Marion’s beaches passed the test in 2021, as Desmarais reported no failures. Signage and permit numbers will be reviewed to meet state requirements.

            “I hoped Covid would be on wane by now, by the virus has other ideas. The vaccine is still the number-one tool that we need to keep pushing,” said Hoffer.

            The next meeting of the Marion Board of Health is scheduled for Tuesday, September 21, at 4:00 pm.

Marion Board of Health

By Mick Colageo